Ow Plans To Go Public In Mid-may

Offic Supply Chain To Use Stock Offering To Add 22 Stores

April 05, 1991|By NEIL CORNISH Staff Writer

OW Office Warehouse, the Virginia Beach-based discount office supply chain, has filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission for permission to go public in mid-May, in order to finance an expansion that will nearly double its size.

R. Michael Rouleau, OW president and chief operating officer, said the company plans to add 22 new stores this year. OW currently operates 23 stores in seven states from Rhode Island to South Carolina, he said, including a store on West Mercury Boulevard in Hampton.

``We're going to be growing at a pretty fast pace,'' Rouleau said. ``It takes money to grow this fast.''

OW plans to offer 1.8 million shares in the company, said Sabin Streeter, managing director for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. of New York. The firm is underwriting the offering with William Blair & Co. of Chicago.

Of the 1.8 million shares, 1.5 million will be new common stock, Streeter said. Another 300,000 will be offered to the public by investment groups that currently own shares in the company, he said.

Streeter said the SEC filing was made March 29. The stock is expected to sell in the range of $12.50 to $14.50 a share, he said.

The store additions still leave OW far behind industry leader Office Depot of Boca Raton, Fla., said Ed Underwood, retail analyst with Scott & Stringfellow of Richmond. Office Depot operates nearly 130 stores throughout the United States and recently acquired the 51-store Office Club chain of Los Angeles, he said.

The discount office supply industry, barely four years old, is still in a period of ``land grab,'' Underwood said. ``They're all in a rapid growth mode trying to establish their territories.''